Blog: Why Alan Jackson is my Choice for D.A. in a Typical, Low-Turnout Election

There’s a very important election today, Tuesday, for District Attorney of Los Angeles—one that most people do not seem to notice. The present District Attorney, Steve Cooley, is retiring and there are five deputy district attorneys hoping to fill that position. A sixth candidate, City Attorney Carmen Trutanich, is also running, but has avoided appearing with other candidates and now is keeping away from reporters. He promised he would serve his complete term and not run for another office if elected as City Attorney. That was a major lie, among many.

Many people downtown will not vote according to a KPCC story Monday. The low turnout expected will give more weight to those who do turn out—low numbers of voters making the choices for the rest.

People should not vote for Carmen as more reasons appear on the Los Angeles Dragnet blog. It’s also a clear recommendation on who not to vote for. Other recommendations and details of the Trutanich problems are many. I am voting for Alan Jackson, who has some progressive ideas and still would be tough on crime.  Nearly all the candidates have lots of endorsements, with the Metropolitan News legal newspaper spelling out many of them. I would say that all candidates showing up for a recent KPCC-hosted candidates' forum would be qualified to handle the job.

I went to the KPCC District Attorney Candidates forum two weeks ago to hear five of the six candidates for D.A. each make their pitches for votes. I wanted to be able to distinguish the candidates from each other and hear their views.   Carmen Trutanich was not there due to “a schedule conflict.”  Trutanich’s mother was hospitalized about a week earlier, but he declined to appear before that time. 

Carmen Trutanich has a strategy of not making appearances to show why he should be elected, using his name recognition instead that often was a result of being in the news for one controversy or another. This approach avoids problems of having to explain his lack of truthfulness in his claims over the course of the campaign. I supported him in the City Attorney election, along with many other grassroots supporters. We expected that he would fulfill the promises he made during the campaign.  

I am not alone in opposing his search for a new job as so many other former supporters have a large assortment of reasons to be disappointed by or angry with Trutanich as City Attorney. Former editor of the Daily News and blogger, Ron Kaye wrote about the Trutanich deceptions in a recent blog. Kaye was another of the former grassroots supporters now against his election.

I think the five candidates speaking at the forum (it’s a “forum,” not a “debate” no matter what KPCC called it) all were asked to respond to prepared questions but they did not address each other directly to give an answer or to pose questions to what any other candidate said. All the candidates did seem to be very experienced—after all, they are currently deputy district attorneys. The session is on the KPCC web page as a 56-minute podcast, moderated capably by Larry Mantel, the host of the daily AirTalk show.

What distinguished the candidates was their expressed views on capital punishment. Both Jackson and Lacey see that the death penalty should be retained as an appropriate punishment for some of the crimes committed.  

John Breault, with 43 years of experience, also saw that the mandatory appeals process that creates more delays, should be changed to be more streamlined in arriving at the decision sooner, but he thought lawmakers would be the ones to change this. Breault appears to be the least "politically" oriented, and is very frank in his views.

Bobby Grace was the lead prosecutor in the Pedro Espinosa murder trial, in which Jamiel Shaw II was killed four years ago in March 2008, shot as he walked home a few doors away from his house. The jury imposed the death penalty. The defendant was an illegal alien gang member with a long history of criminal activity who was released from jail a day before the shooting. Much public controversy arose over the fact that deportation of this gang member offender had not been done over the years of his contacts with law enforcement. Grace also was a prosecutor handling the LAFD captain David Del Toro, an Eagle Rock resident, for the murder of a woman he dated, the trial being covered in the Patch. 

Danette Meyers is another experienced prosecutor who has many endorsements and the support of the frontline deputy district attorneys. Meyers said she thought the cost of keeping death penalty inmates was too expensive and most would die of old age and not execution.  

The November ballot proposal to end capital punishment and impose a life sentence without possibility of parole would be Meyers' preference. Part of the high cost in running the prison system in California is related to some very favorable contract terms received in negotiations with the correctional officers’ union, much higher than the cost for other states.  State level politicians and the governor approve these expensive deals  In any event, Meyers did not believe a death penalty should continue as an option.

Jackie Lacey is the second in command now and was involved in negotiations with the Deputy D.A.’s union over benefits and salary, an important job but the role did not generate any support from the union membership. Her view on the death penalty measure was that it should be retained, having seen where there were some defendants who “were ridiculously evil” and the crime called for that sentence.  I like her as a second choice but her explanation at the forum—“I made a mistake”—did not really answer the inconsistency between two statements that she made in a hearing in recent years.

Alan Jackson is another very experienced prosecutor who has the gang prosecutor label and wants to make progress in modernization of the office. He’s got extensive law enforcement backing and has been endorsed by several notable persons and organizations, including law enforcement. I think there’s still some value on the concept of being tough on crime as well as rehabilitation and diversion. Alan Jackson is the one I believe to be able to provide proper application of the choices.